What is Diabetes? According to the Centers for Disease Control, or CDC, diabetes is a disease in which blood glucose levels are consistently above normal. How Common Is It? Diabetes is becoming more and more common in the United States, as our formerly agrarian/manufacturing economy turns to sitting behind a desk operating a computer without a cure.

The cost of this sedentary lifestyle – reinforced by private vehicles, public transit, and such innovations as Uber, is diabetes. From 1980 through 2014, the number of Americans with diagnosed diabetes has increased fourfold (from 5.5 million to 22.0 million). Many more – perhaps half again as many – remain undiagnosed, waiting for the first symptoms of heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, blindness, or gangrene in a leg or foot.

Cures and Treatment?

Diet, weight loss, and exercise are all good options. Researchers have concluded that weight loss and exercise alone can prevent or delay the occurrence of type 2 diabetes, even among adults at high risk for developing the disease.

Alternative Cures

Diet is the first line of defense. The best diet plan involves large amounts of fruits, vegetables, high-fiber foods, and whole grains (wild or brown rice, multigrain breads, cereals and pastas). Avoid most fats, especially dairy and animal protein fats, and salt.

Weight loss is important. The greater the Body Mass Index, or BMI, the closer a person is to developing diabetes. Overweight is borderline diabetic; obese is likely undiagnosed diabetes. Consult the chart, or calculate your risk by determining if you are more than 25 percent overweight (23 percent for Asian Americans, 26 percent for Pacific Islanders).

Exercise is also essential, because calories that are burnt can’t contribute to fat and, by extension, to diabetes. However, when all else fails, modern medicine steps in to the rescue. According to the CDC, from 1997 to 2011, the number of diabetic adults taking medication increased, most notably for insulin users after 2007. Increases were similar for those taking Sitagliptin-Metformin (a combination featured on the diabetic website daily-diabetic.com), glimiperide (Amaryl), or similar diabetic formulations.

What about Natural Medicine to Cure?

The best medicines are natural, and even some mainstream medical practitioners are beginning to see the benefits of these “herbal” cures.

First, all have proven anti-inflammatory properties, and some – like cinnamon – actually lower blood sugar. As with any medicine, whether natural or formulated, some work better for some diabetics, and others don’t. A little experimentation is necessary. Fortunately, it’s almost impossible to overdose on herbs and spices. Your taste buds will stop you before your body is affected.

Cinnamon lowers cholesterol and speeds up the metabolism, helping your body get rid of the fat that leads to type 2 diabetes. However, do not cook or heat the cinnamon, else it loses its curative properties. And never pair it with sugar. Try stevia, the only sweetener that is not detrimental to diabetics. In fact, stevia is good in its own right as a diabetes fighter.

The no-heat rule applies to all spices and herbs. Add them at the end of the cooking cycle, to retain their phytonutrient values. In baking, for example, sprinkle cinnamon on the bread or bun instead of adding it to the dough.

Other spices like cinnamon, and equally or more effective, include nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Perhaps this is why our ancestors always baked spicy pies to go with heavy holiday meals that packed on the pounds. Even peppermint is a good option (but not for those with acid reflux).

Basil, cumin, garlic, sage, thyme, and turmeric are all spices we should be using anyway, as they effectively replace the almost lethal amounts of table salt and other artificial seasonings (bacon bits, steak sauces, and seasoning salts) that Americans use.

The very best? Turmeric, which in recent studies prevented all subjects who took 1,500 mg daily from developing diabetes.

Related Posts

Share This

What do you do when you start feeling a little lightheaded or weak? When you’re diabetic, you have to worry about your blood sugar levels being too high as well as too low – neither of which are great things to deal with. It’s important to have some healthy snack options on you at all times to keep everything in check.

Keep in mind that though you may want to keep snacks around regularly, mindlessly snacking is not the direction to go. Know yourportion sizes and how many carbohydrates you need, and prepare your snacks accordingly so that there’s no chance of binge eating. You’ll then be able to successfully manage your blood glucose levels and avoid weight gain.

So what are some healthy snack ideas that will keep you energized and health keep your diabetes under control?

String Cheese & Whole-Wheat Crackers

Low-fat string cheese that’s individually wrapped is so easy to slip into your purse or a bag you bring with you to work. Because cheese is filled withprotein, it makes it much easier for a diabetic’s body to process carbohydrates. You can also slice an appropriate portion of fresh block cheese and place it atop whole-wheat crackers.

Hummus & Veggies

Filled with fiber and nutrients, hummus is great to munch on with baby carrots, celery, cucumber, broccoli, or peppers. There are also many different ways you can spice up your hummus so you won’t get bored with just one flavor.

Nuts & Dried Fruit

Almonds and walnuts are both loaded with proteins, again making it easier for your body to process carbohydrates. Remember to steer clear of the salted variety though. Pairing this with dried fruit is a good way to satisfy your sweet tooth while also utilizing the protein of the nuts to process the carbohydrates in the fruit.

Tomato Soup

If you’re in need of a warm, comforting food, tomato soup is an easy way to get some veggies into your diet which brings with it protein.

Greek Yogurt & Raisins

Often times, yogurt can actually be packed with sugar, but sticking with Greek yogurt combats that. A light and fresh snack, you can try adding in some raisins or blueberries for an added burst of flavor.

Egg Salad

Hardboiled eggs are a great source of protein. Put egg salad in a container for an easy-to-travel-with snack. It’s perfect paired with several multi-grain crackers, spread over one slice of whole-wheat bread, or even with grapes.

Banana Berry Smoothie

All you’ll need is half of a small banana, a half-cup of berries and a half-cup of no-fat milk or yogurt. Thicken up your smoothie without adding calories or carbohydrates by mixing in ice. Keep yoursmoothie within the 150-calorie limit by carefully measuring your ingredients beforehand. You can even try throwing in a little protein powder.

Fresh Fruit

So easy to bring with you throughout the day, fruit is packed with vitamins and minerals. It’s also often full of sugar as well, but pair it with a protein like cheese, and it can help counteract the effect.

Related Posts

Share This

Diabetes, to most people, is a bad, scary word. Diabetes conjures up images of sick people who need to obsess over food and put themselves in harm’s way on a regular basis. To this line of thought, diabetes is life sentence, and bad consequence of decades’ worth of bad eating and sloppy living, however what if we changed our focus on this type of thinking.

Does it have more to do with shame and guilt than with reality? Will type 2 diabetes really ruin you life? Read on to find out how, to many people, diabetes is a life saver rather than the kiss of death

Diabetes Will Encourage You to Focus on Nutrition.

When you develop diabetes, you will need to focus on what you eat, and you’ll need to keep in mind the ways in which what you eat affects your entire body. This may have have unexpected benefits.

Keeping your nutrition in mind when you plan, fix, and eat meals will leave you a healthier person in ways far beyond the ones related to your diabetes. If you speak to dietitians frequently, you’ll notice some patterns in their recommendations: don’t overeat; make sure you’re getting plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains; avoid processed food and saturated fats; and get lots of exercise. The reason dietitians recommend these strategies is so many health situations is that these guidelines will benefit every part of your health.

So when you focus on your diabetes when planning your diet, you’ll be helping more than just your blood sugars. A diabetes friendly diet will help your heart, your energy levels, your brain, and much more.

Diabetes Will Help You Focus Your Routines

Diabetes will help you stay focused. Having to make decisions all the time is tiring. Before diabetes, you probably wasted time thinking about what to eat, when to exercise, and how to organize your life. You probably flip-flopped back and forth about how to run your life, how healthy you wanted to be, and how much effort you wanted to spend taking care of yourself.

Diabetes changes all that. When your doctor tells you that you need to cut out refined sugars and processed foods, to incorporate more exercise into your routine, and always maintain focus on what’s good for your body, you know for certain what you need to do. Many diabetes patients credit the disease with giving them purpose in life. When you have a clear problem, you have a clear goal.

Diabetes Will Give You Things to Think About

Despite all of its drawbacks, diabetes is interesting. When you develop the disease, you’ll have a lot to think about. When you research your condition, you’ll learn about many things: your blood, your diet, and your digestion. And you’ll have concrete examples of all of these things to look at everyday—eating certain foods will lead to higher numbers in your blood sugar charting, and you’ll be able to observe patterns. These are all fascinating topics which lead to a strange conclusion: having diabetes is intellectually stimulating.

Share This

Diabetes can make snacking a guilt-ridden, nerve-wracking experience. Society provides us with an array of sugary, carb-saturated quick fixes for our mid-afternoon or late-night cravings. For diabetics, these constantly available treats—cookies, crackers, soda pops, and the like—can seem like the only options. And those options don’t look good. Your average supermarket snack will force your blood sugars to spike and your health to plummet.

Luckily, though, there’s a variety of healthy snacks just as vast and tasty as anything the neighborhood donut shop has to offer. By focusing on nutrition and taste, you can ensure long-lasting, body-boosting results.

Grapes and Cheese

This one may come as a surprise to some people. Grapes are relatively highly caloric and sugary, and cheese is relatively high in fat. Shouldn’t that make this a nasty decadent cocktail for someone with diabetes? Not so, say many dieticians. The reason is this: when you have diabetes, your blood sugar will spike when it gets filled with unadulterated sugar. But combining that sugar with proteins and fats will help your body digest carbs at an efficient pace. Grapes will give you a good burst of energy, while the protein and fat in the cheese will help your body process that energy at a reasonable pace.

Carrot Sticks

The nutritional benefits of carrots are well established. Ask ten people to suggest a healthy food, and chances are most of them will say carrot before you’ve even finished asking the question. And the reputation is much-deserved. Carrots are one of the most nutritious things you can eat. And unlike that pack of crackers, carrots will actually fill up for more than twenty minutes. If you’re not used to plain carrots, don’t worry—there are plenty of ways to get used to them. Cook them, or dip them a little ranch dressing.

Walnuts

Walnuts are low in carbohydrates, which will keep your blood sugars happy. What’s more, walnuts are high in good fats and protein. This non-carb energy bomb will keep you full and satisfied; your glucose will stay balanced. It should be noted, however, that the fat content of walnuts could get you in trouble. Walnuts are packed with the so-called good fats—polyunsaturated and monounsaturated—and are not nearly as detrimental to your health as other fatty snacks, but they’ll still bulk you up if you overindulge.

Low Sugar Yogurt

Like many of the other products listed, yogurts tend to be packed with protein, ensuring that sugars get processed at decent rate and helping to stabilize your blood sugar. There’s a catch with yogurts, though, and that catch is this: many of them are absolutely loaded with sugars. As a diabetic, you’re already aware of the dangers of high sugar. Lots of yogurts brag about being low-fat, but the real thing you should watch for is low-sugar. Keep an eye on your labels, and you’ll have a delicious, high protein snack in yogurt.

Popcorn

Like yogurt, this one doesn’t always apply. To keep popcorn at acceptable levels, you’ve got do ti right: air pop it, leave the butter and salt out, etc. And even at its best, popcorn has moderate levels of carbohydrate. Furthermore, popcorn’s benefits are more related to what it doesn’t have than to what it does have; frankly, popcorn’s reputation is based on its lack of bad things, not the presence of dense nutrients. Watch your carb points, and use popcorn as a treat.

Share This

In a survey done in the year 2014, around 9.3% of the population was suffering from diabetes. That is about 29.1 million Americans. The most inconvenient thing about being diabetic is keeping track of everything that is consumed. This makes it difficult to “eat out” at a favorite restaurant. Most restaurants do not take into consideration any of the needs or preferences of the 29 million diabetics that visit their establishments. Generally, most of the restaurants are for non-diabetic individuals who do not have to manage and check what they eat. These establishments do not bother much about cooking food or preparing menu items that are diabetic-friendly.

Wait Times

Restaurants serving food to individuals with diabetes should keep in mind that the patients with a high (or low) glucose levels need to eat on time. Individuals that are diabetics likely take insulin injections or tablets, and within a certain time, they need to eat. Restaurants should understand this and should provide services accordingly. Restaurants should also be mindful of not keeping patrons waiting for too long. There should also be emergency medical kits in case anyone falls sick in the establishment.

Menu Redesign

Experienced chefs should redesign menus that are appropriate for consumption for those that suffer from diabetes. They should know and report on the menu the amount of sugar and salt that is in the food. Moreover, they should know and disclose which starchy items that may be included in meals. Menus should be more transparent and disclose exactly what is in their food. For many Americans, this is a crucial determinant in keeping their sugar levels in control.

Diabetic-Friendly Options

Restaurants should also provide diabetic-friendly options in their menus. Having diabetes does not mean eating having to eat tasteless or bland foods. Those with diabetes need to know that they have a high range of options too. With the increase in diabetes across the nations, our restaurants should be doing more to provide meals that everyone can enjoy, while still being healthy.

Choosing a Restaurant

There are certain important things that the diabetics should also remember while choosing to eat out:

They need to find out whether the restaurants they are visiting offer diabetic-friendly options. Research the restaurant and their menu beforehand.

They should not accept just anything that is available in the menu. They should be particular about the menus they are choosing.

They should not feel awkward letting the waiter know about food preparation preferences. It is very important to watch what you eat.

Be mindful about portion control.

Avoid the extras, and ask for substitutes when necessary.

Having diabetes has become a social problem and social responsibility. We all must work together to have a healthier nation. Restaurants can opt to include healthier options, but we have to opt to pick those healthy options. That is our personal responsibility. We all deserve to be healthy. That starts at the table.